Queensland drivers can soon add emojis to their personalised plates

Queensland drivers will be able to add emojis to their personalised plates next month.

Five of the cartoon faces familiar to smartphone users will be available, including "laugh out loud", "wink", "sunglasses", "heart" and "smile" emojis.

The emoji plates will be available from March 1 and must be accompanied by a mixture of three letters and two numbers, according to Personalised Plates Queensland.

However, a Queensland law expert has questioned whether the plates would be a hindrance to vehicle identification.

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Queensland Law Society president Bill Potts said the emojis could cause problems for the police's number plate recognition system, which scans cars and checks whether the driver has outstanding warrants if the vehicle is unregistered.

"Clearly the government is trying to sex up number plates, with a view to making more money, and I can understand that," he said.

"But the purpose of number plates is for the police to be able to identify vehicles.

"How do you write down the emoji in your number plate after an accident?"

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Mr Potts also noted that a "road rage" emoji or a "stuck in M1 traffic" emoji were not options.

"There should be changeable emojis, so the face turns from a frown to a smiley depending on the driver's mood and as the traffic gets heavier it becomes angrier," he said.

"I'm still a big believer in the turd. If someone is in real trouble, the smiling turd should come up."

Personalised Plates Queensland has been contacted for comment.

In 2017, a group of international researchers from Australia and Britain called on other researchers to study the use of emojis.

Australian Catholic University researcher Dr Stephanie Malone, who has already done research into emojis with counterparts in Britain, said their research turned up interesting findings.

"Emojis provide us with an insight into human behaviour in the digital age," she said.

"As emoji research is just in its infancy at the moment, there are lots of directions that this research could take and I look forward to seeing what comes of it.

"Our research shows that despite people being aware of how useful emojis can be, they are aware that using emojis in some contexts - for example, email - may be less appropriate," she said.